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In the aftermath of the horrific attack at Bondi, Australia is confronting several critical reckonings. There is a long-overdue national spotlight on anti-Jewish sentiment, an ongoing concern about national security, and inquiries about how such an event could occur. However, as viewed of a health professional and Jewish Australian, the paramount dialogue we are now having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Warnings and a Proven Response

Health specialists have been sounding alarms about guns for at least a ten-year period. Following the events of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians united and implemented a suite of reforms to curb gun violence across the country. And it worked. Before 1996, the nation experienced roughly one large-scale firearm incident per year. In the decades since, there have been vanishingly few significant tragedies, with none approaching the fatalities of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Tragedy and the Function of Current Laws

Even during the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the individuals involved might have been armed with bolt-action rifles and a straight-pull shotgun. These weapons can only fire a single bullet at a time, necessitating a physical action to chamber the subsequent shot. While these guns are capable of being discharged rapidly with devastating effect, they remain significantly less rapid and more cumbersome than the large-magazine, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in international attacks. The number of deaths at Bondi would've been far higher if different firearms had been available.

Preventing a future Bondi requires national cohesion. And unfortunately, we have already seen fissures in the united front.

Legislation Showing Weakness

Yet, the horrific toll of the incident demonstrates that current firearm regulations are inadequate. Crafted in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, decades have worn away their efficacy. Alarmingly, there are now more firearms in Australia than before the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in urban areas reportedly holding collections of hundreds of weapons.

We have been overconfident and it has cost us terribly.

The Path Ahead: Announced Reforms

In the time after the Bondi attack, there have been multiple declarations regarding new gun laws. New South Wales in particular will shortly introduce a package of reforms to mitigate the collective risk posed by firearms. The federal government has announced a new firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, despite the complexities of aligning state and federal governments.

All of this are only possible if the nation acts in unison. As stated, regarding gun control, the country is dependent on its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the very nature of the Australian system – laws in one state are easily circumvented if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a state line.

Addressing Common Objections

There is the inevitable response that "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is true in the identical way that aircraft do not fly passengers, aviators do. Yes, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be quite challenging for a pilot to transport 500 people internationally without the aircraft. The horrific violence seen at Bondi would be all but impossible without firearms, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had not had access to the firearms they possessed.

Balancing Need and Safety

It is acknowledged there are legitimate reasons for some Australians to possess firearms. Managing livestock or culling pests in rural areas is extremely difficult without them. A total ban of firearms from the country is not feasible, as in some cases they are essential tools.

The achievable goal – the imperative action – is to guarantee that firearm legislation are modernized to accurately reflect the world we live in today. Australia's legislation have long been the envy of the world, but the passage of years has done its work and the nation is no longer as safe as it once was. It is critical to take the lessons of Bondi to heart, and make certain that coming Australians are equally safe as past generations have been.

As one friend observed after the Bondi attack, "such tragedies just don't happen here". This is true, but solely due to the fact that the country has collectively worked to keep itself safe. However horrific as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the last one the nation ever sees.